Louis's garrulous mother, Gerty, has flown up from South Africa to be our cook, and grills up tasty servings of klipspringer and gemsbok, which we wash down with Windhoek lagers, supposedly brewed to German purity rules.

The fauna in the Swartberg and Cederberg protected areas reflects their location close to the fynbos-Karoo interface with species such as grysbok Raphicerus melanotis, grey rhebuck Pelea capreolus and klipspringer Oreotragus oreotragus, steenbok Raphicerus campestris and grey duiker Sylvicapra grimmia, as well as karoo species not usually found in mountain fynbos such as springbok Antidorcas marsupialus.

The more open grasslands and heathlands contain fewer mammal species, with the klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus), sable antelope (Papio cynocephalus), eland (Taurotragus oryx) and hyraxes (Procavia capensis) being the most conspicuous.

Large populations of several antelopes are present and include an estimated population of 1,500-2,000 of the endemic grey rhebok Pelea capreolus, 1,000 reedbuck Redunca arundinum, and approximately 2,000 eland Taurotragus oryx; also bushbuck Tragelaphus scriptus, blue duiker Cephalophus monticola, klipspringer Oreotragus oreotragus and oribi Ourebia ourebi.

Several other mammals occur in Nigeria only on the Jos Plateau, including the bushveld horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus simulator), the high-crowned bat (Miniopterus inflatus), dark-eared climbing mouse (Dendromus melanotis), and the West African subspecies of klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus porteousi, EN).